The average wine score will be used to determine if it qualifies for a medal.

Preliminary Round

Over the course of 10 days, each wine is tasted by 6 judges. This is a single-blind tasting, meaning that judges only know the grape or category of a wine, but the vintage, winery and name are hidden behind coded-glasses. Finally, individual judges' scores of a wine are averaged into one score after the lowest score is dropped.

Final Round

Over the course of 3 days, 15 judges assess the highest ranking wines from the preliminary round. Unlike the preliminary round, each judge samples all of the Final Round wines. Each wine in the Final Round receives a final average score after lowest is dropped. The 12 wines with the highest average score are identified as the "Governor's Cup Case." The wine with the highest overall score is the Governor's Cup Winner.